The Different Hats of a Business Analyst

The scene from the movie, Kindergarten Cop, where Arnold Schwarzenegger asks his class, “Who is your daddy, and what does he do?” plays in my head whenever anybody asks me, “What is a Business Analyst?”

My passion for business analysis started out early in my career as a software developer. I remember the days of building new features to existing applications or needing to update calculation logic rules, but struggling to come up with the design, because I wasn’t clear on what our stakeholders needs were. The root of my predicament usually stemmed from requirements not being clear, and in some cases just non-existent. Key details weren’t captured, facts about the existing logic were taken for granted, or wrong, and too much room was left for interpretation. In many cases, I had to have meetings to ask questions about key decisions that had already been made, sometimes ask questions that hadn’t been asked, and do re-work where my interpretations on the information were wrong. I was becoming a business analyst.

A business analyst can wear many hats, have different core skills, and may have a different title based on their project role. Their title may also be different based on the structure of the organization they are in. From an enterprise analyst to a process analyst or a usability analyst to a data analyst, in future posts, I’ll share the various facets of the business analyst world. Where will you fit in the role you’re currently in?

I’m a Enterprise Consultant in the Business Analytics Center of Excellence for Digineer. To learn more about how you fit in a business analytics practice or how a business analytics practice can help your organization contact: jthesing@digineer.com